DATE=8/6/97
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-218209
TITLE=TERRORIST TRIAL DEFENSE (L-O)
BYLINE=BARBARA SCHOETZAU
DATELINE=NEW YORK
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: IN FEDERAL COURT IN NEW YORK TODAY (WEDNESDAY), DEFENSE
LAWYERS QUESTIONED KEY EVIDENCE OFFERED BY THE PROSECUTION IN THE
SECOND DAY OF THE TRIAL OF TWO MEN CHARGED WITH THE 1993 BOMBING
OF NEW YORK'S WORLD TRADE CENTER. CORRESPONDENT BARBARA SCHOETZAU
REPORTS.
TEXT: THE GOVERNMENT CHARGES THAT DEFENDANT RAMZI YOUSEF WAS THE
ARCHITECT OF THE PLAN TO BLOW UP THE TRADE CENTER COMPLEX.
CO-DEFENDANT EYAD ISMOIL (AY-AD IS MOW EEL) ALLEGEDLY DROVE THE
VAN CONTAINING THE BOMB AND PARKED IT IN THE WORLD TRADE CENTER'S
GARAGE, WHERE IT DETONATED SHORTLY AFTER NOON ON FEBRUARY 26TH,
1993.
THE PROSECUTION SAYS IT CAN PROVE MR. YOUSEF MADE THE BOMB BY
LINKING TRACES OF A COMPOUND, UREA NITRATE, FOUND IN RESIDUE FROM
THE WORLD TRADE CENTER BOMB AND IN A SHED MR. YOUSEF RENTED IN
NEARBY NEW JERSEY. THE DEFENSE LAWYERS HAVE SAID THEY WILL
QUESTION THE PRESENCE OF UREA NITRATE AS A COMPONENT OF THE BOMB.
DURING CROSS-EXAMINATION, DEFENSE LAWYER LOU AIDALA (EYE-DAL'-AH)
QUESTIONED THE HEAD OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTER, CHARLES MAKISH, AT
LENGTH CONCERNING BATHROOMS IN THE COMPLEX. MR. MAKISH SAID MANY
OF THE BATHROOMS IN THE COMPLEX WERE DESTROYED BY THE BOMB,
SPEWING WASTE -- INCLUDING UREA -- THROUGHOUT THE WRECKAGE.
SPEAKING WITH REPORTERS AFTERWARD, MR. AIDALA SAID HE BELIEVES
THE GOVERNMENT WILL NOT BE ABLE TO PROVE WHAT COMPONENTS MADE UP
THE EXPLOSIVE DEVICE.
//// AIDALA ACT ////
I BROUGHT OUT BY MY CROSS EXAMINATION WHAT WILL BE
CLEAR, THE CONTAMINATION. IN OTHER WORDS, BY VIRTUE OF
THE WASTE PIPES RUPTURING, SPEWING URINE AND WHATEVER
ELSE WAS FLUSHED DOWN THOSE PIPES, ANY CHEMICAL TESTING
WHICH WOULD DISCLOSE THE PRESENCE OF UREA WOULD NOT LEAD
TO A CONCLUSION THAT IT CAME FROM A BOMB MADE UP IN PART
OF UREA BECAUSE THE UREA COULD VERY EASILY HAVE BEEN
CAUSED BY THE WASTE PRODUCTS.
//// END ACT ////
PRIOR TO THE TRIAL, DEFENSE LAWYERS ASKED PRESIDING JUDGE KEVIN
DUFFY NOT TO ALLOW THE UREA NITRATE TO BE ADMITTED AS EVIDENCE.
THEY CITED A CONTROVERSY OVER THE GOVERNMENT LABORATORY THAT
ANALYZED THE EVIDENCE. A SCIENTIST FROM THE LABORATORY SAID THE
LABORATORY'S INITIAL REPORT THAT UREA NITRATE WAS PRESENT IN THE
BOMB COULD NOT BE SCIENTIFICALLY PROVED. JUDGE DUFFY DECIDE TO
ALLOW THE EVIDENCE TO BE ADMITTED TO THE TRIAL.
IN EARLIER TESTIMONY, WORLD TRADE CENTER DIRECTOR MAKISH DETAILED
THE WRECKAGE CAUSED BY THE BOMB. HE SAID THE EXPLOSION COST MORE
THAN A HALF-BILLION DOLLARS IN DAMAGES. FOUR OF THE SIX PEOPLE
KILLED WERE EMPLOYEES OF THE TRADE CENTER.
//// REST OPT ////
PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE PEOPLE KILLED BY THE EXPLOSION WERE SHOWN TO
THE JURY DESPITE PROTESTS FROM DEFENSE LAWYERS, WHO SAID
PROSECUTORS WANTED TO "ELICIT CERTAIN EMOTIONS." BUT JUDGE DUFFY
SAID PROSECUTION LAWYERS WERE ENTITLED TO PROVE THE VICTIMS HAD
DIED.
FOUR OTHER MEN WERE CONVICTED OF THE BOMBING IN A SEPARATE TRIAL
IN 1994. LAST YEAR, MR. YOUSEF AND TWO OTHER MEN WERE CONVICTED
IN A FOILED PLOT TO BLOW UP AMERICAN AIRLINERS FLYING OVER ASIA.
(SIGNED)
NEB/NY/BJS/LSF/RRM
06-Aug-97 4:06 PM EDT (2006 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
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